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Photo of the Week
 VICTORY IS SWEET: Caryn Baron, the chapter leader at PS 213 in Bayside, Queens, provided a post-Election Day spread for her members to celebrate the defeat of the constitutional convention. Her message: “TOGETHER we made a difference!”
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This Week’s Focus
We defeated the constitutional convention — together!
Thanks to all of your hard work, the proposal on a state constitutional convention was soundly defeated this Tuesday. The Vote NO campaign was a case study in how engaged and informed union members can mobilize to protect their rights and benefits. Read the article about member organizing to defeat the constitutional convention on the UFT website. We are stronger when we stand united. The same forces we just defeated in the Vote NO campaign will be coming right back at public employees in the anti-union Janus v. AFSCME lawsuit that is before the U.S. Supreme Court. We can stop our enemies in their tracks even if the court rules in their favor, just like we did in the Vote NO campaign. But we must stick together. Paying union dues and contributing to COPE are how we keep our union strong — and protect our hard-won rights and benefits.
Union says: Stop lesson-plan abuse
The union has fought hard to maintain teachers’ professional autonomy concerning lesson plans in the UFT-DOE contract. The mmulgrew. We suggest you discuss the joint letter on lesson plans at your next chapter meeting so all teachers are aware of their rights and responsibilities. Members should not refuse a direct order by a supervisor, but as a chapter-building activity, while the UFT works to resolve the issue, we suggest teachers place a copy of the joint letter alongside the lesson plan in the designated location.
Consider applying to become a PROSE school
If you work in a school that is highly collaborative and has innovative practices, you may be interested in becoming a PROSE school. PROSE offers schools the ability to make changes to the UFT contract and DOE regulations to allow out-of-the-box ideas and teacher-led innovations. Schools may apply to PROSE by submitting an application to the PROSE panel. The deadline to apply is March 2, 2018. This year, PROSE is also accepting early-decision applications, which are due by Dec. 20, for possible implementation starting in February. The early-decision process is for schools that have been engaged in innovative practices. For more information and a link to the application, see the prose.
Thanks to you, Teacher Union Day was a success
Thanks to all the chapter leaders and other members who turned out for this year’s Teacher Union Day, which honors leaders past and present and marks the anniversary of the 1960 strike that launched the newly formed UFT on its course to becoming the strong activist organization it is now. Following the fight to protect public education from U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos this spring, Teacher Union Day this year had a special focus: honoring UFT chapters, a member and a Brooklyn school district that embraced the union’s #PublicSchoolProud campaign. Watch the videos about each #PublicSchoolProud award winner that were shown at the event. Read the story about Teacher Union Day and see photos of this year’s honorees.
Attend a UFT Teacher Center citywide literacy conference
The UFT Teacher Center is pleased to offer a citywide literacy conference for kindergarten through 12th-grade educators titled Academic Discourse to Engage a New Generation of Learners: Deepening Comprehension through Talk.The conferencewill take place on Sunday, Nov. 18, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at UFT headquarters at 52 Broadway. Participants will learn explicit comprehension strategies to deepen students’ engagement and motivation for reading complex texts; explore the New York State Next Generation Standards and the shifts essential for instructional practice; and experience academic discourse through text-based discussions and protocols to deepen comprehension. The conference costs $40 for teachers seeking a certificate for CTLE hours; $15 for paraprofessionals seeking a certificate for CTLE hours; and $10 for registrants not seeking a certificate for CTLE hours. Register online. |
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Your Chapter Leader Checklist
- New Next Thursday is the deadline for dropping off coats for deserving kids: The deadline for dropping off new winter apparel for homeless students is next Thursday, Nov. 16. You may drop off donations at your UFT borough office or at UFT headquarters, MCharles. For more information, see the How About Some Giving on Thanksgiving? flier.
- New Logging in to the UFT website: We know it’s sometimes frustrating to hit a login barrier when you are trying to access content promoted in the Chapter Leader Update. You must log in because the content is housed in the chapter-leader-only section of the UFT website. We recommend that you log in when visiting the UFT website so you don’t encounter these roadblocks.
- Request a visit to your school from a UFT representative: Various UFT officers and representatives from UFT departments are available to visit your school and speak with members of your chapter. You may request a visit from the following UFT offices and officers: the Grievance Department, to discuss contract empowerment, APPR complaints, grievances and more; the Safety and Health Department, to discuss environmental issues, school safety, incident reporting and more; the Welfare Fund, to discuss supplemental health benefits and more; the Pension Department to discuss pensions and tax-deferred annuities; a UFT certification specialist, to answer teachers’ certification questions; Vice President for Education Evelyn De Jesus, to discuss support for English language learners, professional development, mentoring and more; the Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds, to discuss issues involving high schools; Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell, to discuss issues involving middle schools; Vice President for Elementary Schools Karen Alford, to discuss issues involving elementary schools; and Vice President for Career and Technical Education High Schools Sterling Roberson, to discuss issues involving CTE schools.
- Make sure all new educators have joined the UFT: Some of your newest school staffers may not yet be enrolled as members of the UFT. With the looming threat of the anti-union Janus case, we need to sign up all new teachers and other employees in the UFT bargaining unit as quickly as possible; some new hires may not even be aware that they are not UFT members. To make the task easier, we have created a new agency-fee payer report for you as chapter leader to find out at a glance who is and who is not a union member in your school. Please encourage these staffers, known as “agency-fee payers,” to join. They can enroll online on the UFT website.
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Share With Your Members
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| 10 reasons to be #PublicSchoolProud flier
Share in the Season of Joy flier
Dial-a-Teacher flier
UFT Guide to the Teacher Development and Evaluation System |
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You Should Know
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Community Service
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| New Latino Caucus awards dinner to help Puerto Rico: The AFT Latino Caucus is encouraging UFT members to attend its annual awards gala to support residents of Puerto Rico who have been struggling with the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria. Proceeds from the gala will be used to provide a family in Puerto Rico with an in-home purifier that filters and provides up to 24 liters of safe water per day. This event will take place on Monday, Dec. 11, from 6 to 9 p.m., at Acri Café, 1315 Commerce Ave., in the Bronx. The $85 ticket price includes a buffet dinner, wine, beer and soda. Register online.
Take action Help bring clean water to Puerto Rico: The American Federation of Teachers has launched Operation Agua, a collaboration with Operation Blessing, AFSCME, the Hispanic Federation and the Asociacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico, to bring water filters and purifiers to people in Puerto Rico. In its first three days, the initiative raised more than $200,000. Now we need your help to keep the momentum growing. We are asking you to create a team at your school to raise money to make this effort successful. Once you sign up, you will receive materials and fundraising ideas from the AFT to support your team. For more information or to make an online donation, see the Operation Agua website.
Donate a new toy for a deserving child: The UFT, in collaboration with the Coalition for the Homeless, is seeking your support to bring the joy of the holiday season to girls and boys who do not have a permanent home. Please join us by donating an unwrapped, brand-new toy for children — newborn to 16 years of age. Donations can be dropped off at a UFT borough office. We will accept donations until Wednesday, Dec. 6.For details, including who to contact in each borough office, see the Share in the Season of Joy flier. |
Evaluation
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| Understand the observation cycle for teachers: By now you should have had your Initial Planning Conference with your supervisor and selected an observation option. After each observation, your evaluator must provide feedback within 15 school days through an in-person conversation, phone call or email, or during the post-observation conference for a formal observation. Within 45 school days of any observation, your evaluator must give you the written report. It’s always a good idea to document your own reflections on classroom visits and share them with your evaluator prior to receiving the written report. For more information, see the UFT’s Guide to the Teacher Development and Evaluation System. |
Functional Chapters
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| New Paras cannot be required to supervise lunchrooms: Tell paraprofessionals that lunchroom supervision is not a para’s responsibility. Other school-based personnel, such as school aides and supervising school aides, have this responsibility. Paras are entitled to a duty-free lunch. Please clarify with your paras that they may be asked to perform duties in an instructional lunch for a specific student only as set forth in the child’s IEP, but they are not required to perform general lunchroom supervision. The classroom para of a self-contained class should not be covering a class during lunch. If problems persist or your administrators have questions, please contact your district representative. |
Health and Safety
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| New Excused leave for breast or prostate cancer screening and blood donation: UFT members can receive up to four hours of paid leave to get a mammogram, up to four hours of paid leave for prostate screening, and up to three hours of unpaid leave to give blood. The state Legislature passed the laws granting our members these benefits at the urging of the UFT and our state affiliate NYSUT. A personnel memo issued by the DOE outlines the procedures for UFT members to follow when requesting these leaves.
Your prescription drug benefits and the Express Scripts app:All eligible in-service UFT members and their dependents have prescription drug coverage through the UFT Welfare Fund. Read this Know Your Benefits column to learn more about the types of prescription drugs covered by the plan, the three-tier co-pay structure and specialty drugs. UFT members who use a smartphone can download the Express Scripts Mobile app at the app store. This application provides a host of services including refills and renewals and a section called Medicine Cabinet (to check interactions, claims and history, which is great for reviewing a past drug you have taken). Best of all, if you have forgotten your drug card, the app has a copy available by just tapping the Prescription ID Card. |
New Teachers
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| New Enroll in the UFT Welfare Fund: Make sure you have enrolled in the UFT Welfare Fund. The Fund provides your prescription drug, dental, optical and other benefits that supplement your New York City health plan — but this is separate from your health plan enrollment. You can enroll in the UFT Welfare Fund on the UFT website. Then follow the instructions for sending in the required documentation. Save receipts for any prescription drugs you purchase so you can be reimbursed once your enrollment is processed. The UFT website will give you access to all benefit information including ordering an optical certificate, dental forms and lists of our participating providers.
Financial wellness workshops for new UFT members: How much should you save for retirement? How does your pension plan work? If you are a new member and have questions like these, come to a financial wellness workshop for new members. Sign up to attend a workshop in in Queens on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., at the Queens borough office; or in Manhattan on Thursday, Nov. 30, 4 to 6 p.m., at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway. |
Opportunities
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| New UFT members can get reduced-cost solar panels: Five years after Superstorm Sandy’s extreme weather devastated the region, New Yorkers’ utility bills keep going up. Members who live in New York State can now cut their utility costs while helping to combat climate change by switching to solar power through a UFT Member Benefits-endorsed solar program. American Solar Partners, the UFT’s endorsed solar installer, offer a 5 percent discount on solar panels for UFT members and their families; tax credits and grants to cover up to 75 percent of the cost; and no upfront costs if you qualify for a solar loan. American Solar Partners will handle all paperwork. All equipment is American-made and installed by unionized workers. American Solar Partners can give you a info or call 914-699-3366.
Scholarships for labor studies: UFT members who are interested in pursuing labor studies at the Murphy Institute of the City University of New York are invited to apply for a Diversity Scholarship to promote diversity and excellence in union leadership and in labor studies. Recipients of this scholarship will receive up to $30,000. See theLaurie.Kellogg. |
Rights and Grievance
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| New Know your rights about preparation periods: Among the many meaningful rights and professional protections that your contract provides is time carved out each day for teachers to do professional work. Whether you teach elementary, middle or high school, teachers are generally entitled to five periods per week (one per day) for unassigned professional work under Article 7, Sections A-C of the UFT-DOE contract (you must be logged in to view it). It is your choice how to use this time for professional duties that will best enhance your work. A teacher may decide to use preparation periods to write lesson plans; grade papers; analyze student data; research a lesson topic; meet with parents or colleagues; or do other professional responsibilities of their choice. Prep periods are self-directed; you determine what to do during your prep periods. This is a right we fought for and a right that workers without a union do not have. For information about prep period do’s and don’ts, read the Know Your Rights column on prep periods on the UFT website. |
Salary and Personnel
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| Catastrophe Major Medical insurance bills coming in mid-November: If you enrolled in the Catastrophe Major Medical Plan sponsored by the NYSUT Member Benefits Trust during the limited-time open-enrollment period in spring 2017, your first bill from the plan’s administrator, Mercer Consumer, will be arriving in the mail in mid-November. It is imperative that you pay your bill by the Dec. 31, 2017 deadline. If you do not pay your bill by this date, your coverage will not go into effect and you will not be able to enroll again until the plan offers another open-enrollment period in the future. If you are eligible for payroll or pension deduction of your CMM Plan premium, your bill will provide this option. Deduction-authorization cards submitted with enrollment forms were unable to be processed; therefore, any request for payroll or pension deduction will require the submission of another authorization form. |
Special Education
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| New Use the special education complaint form to notify the union: The union’s special education complaint form is an important tool for UFT members to advocate for their students with special needs. If there are students in their classes who are not being served in accordance with their IEPs, if class-size limits for self-contained classes are being violated, if ICT teachers are being pulled to do coverages, or if ratios in ICT classes are not being equalized, please notify the union using this confidential complaint form. |
Teaching and Learning
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| New Lessons on climate change and sustainability: The Share My Lesson website has lessons to help educators teach how climate science and sustainability affect our everyday lives. Elementary school students can work through the Science investigation booklet and explore hot and cold experiments with different materials in the template offered. Middle school students can learn about sustainability and more through The 10 STEM Challenges, where students tackle a range of issues relating to the 2012 Olympic Games such as sustainability and the design of athletes’ clothing and much more. The Global warming lesson offers high school students a PowerPoint with a simple true/false starter on the carbon cycle. You can find more lessons and webinars on the Share My Lesson website. |
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This Week in Education and Labor News
Anti-voucher candidates prevail in Colorado: A slate of anti-school voucher candidates won a contentious race on Tuesday for the Douglas County School Board in Colorado, according to The Denver Post. The election results effectively killed the district’s controversial voucher program and entirely remade the seven-member school board. The race, because it revolved around school vouchers, drew plenty of media attention, big money and bitterness from both sides.
Trump tax plan contains harmful provisions for education: The tax proposal unveiled by House Republicans on Nov. 2 would no longer allow borrowers to deduct interest paid on their student loans, reports USnews.com. The plan would also allow up to $10,000 from 529 savings accounts — currently reserved for college-related expenses — to be used for K-12 private school tuition. In addition, the proposal would repeal employer programs that provide reimbursement to workers for education expenses like tuition. The Trump plan would also eliminate the deduction of the state and local taxes that fund public schools and other public infrastructure.
New job stresses take a toll on teachers: A long list of anxieties — around school budget cuts, bullying, coarse political discourse and the shaky status of immigrant students — is taking a toll on teachers, a new survey shows according to USA Today. Fifty-eight percent of educators reported their mental health is suffering, up from 34 percent of respondents in 2015. AFT President Randi Weingarten said, “This notion that being coarse and tough and enabling hate is okay is highly, highly, highly disruptive and problematic in schools.”
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Events Calendar
This Week
Saturday, Nov. 11: The Association of Black Educators of New York’s annual Fall Education Conference takes place at Frederick Douglass Academy, sbobo or call her at 917-412-9099.
Wednesday, Nov. 15: Teachers in years 1-3 are invited to Getting it Done: Mastering the Art of Time Management, a workshop to help educators set professional goals and create a plan for success. Participants will learn how attitude, beliefs and a growth mindset can have an impact on achievement. This event runs from 4 to 6 p.m. at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway, 19th floor. This course is full, but you may add your name to the wait list.
Wednesday, Nov. 15: The Laboratory Specialists Chapter meets at 4 p.m. at UFT headquarters, 50 Broadway.
Wednesday, Nov. 15: The Supervisors of Nurses and Therapists Chapter meets from 4 to 6 p.m. at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway, 12th floor, room 3.
Wednesday, Nov. 15: (Registration is closed for this event.) Staten Island-based paraprofessionals are invited to Paraprofessional Learning, a workshop in which participants will learn about the levels of language proficiency among English language learners and how language proficiency affects academic performance. This workshop will take place at the UFT’s Staten Island borough office, 4456 Amboy Road from 4 to 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 15: The monthly meeting of two functional chapters, the Administrative Education Officers/Education Analysts and the Education Officers/Education Analysts, takes place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the UFT’s Brooklyn borough office, 335 Adams St. 24th floor, rooms 3 and 4.
Thursday, Nov. 16: (Registration is closed for this event.) Members who are caring for a relative or friend suffering from progressive memory loss due to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may attend a support workshop from 4 to 6 p.m. at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway.
Thursday, Nov. 16: The citywide paraprofessionals representative meeting take places from 4:15 to 6 p.m. at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway, Shanker Hall.
Save the date
Saturday, March 3: Middle school members are invited to the fifth annual Middle School Conference. Details to come.
For more events, go to uft.org/calendar.
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Professional Committees
UFT Professional Committees offer a wide range of workshops, presentations and exchanges, enabling all members to take an active part in their professional growth. Unless indicated, meetings are at UFT headquarters at 52 Broadway. Check the lobby for exact locations. For further information, contact us at 212-598-7772 or visit us online.
Math
NYC Association of Teachers of Art
Players
- Thursday, Nov. 30, and Friday, Dec. 1, original plays performed. For more information, see the Original One-Act Play Readings flier.
- Friday, Dec. 15, 5 to 7 p.m., holiday party, 50 Broadway, 2nd floor, Room E/F.
Runners
- Thursday, Nov. 30, 4 p.m., Health Discussion on Knees, featuring Dr. Shawn Anthony, who specializes in orthopedics at Mount Sinai Hospital. For more information, see the Health Discussion on Knees flier.
Science
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| Editor: Peter O’Donnell
Executive Editor: Bernadette Weeks
Contributors include: Karen Alford, George Altomare, Carmen Alvarez, Amy Arundell, LeRoy Barr, Jackie Bennett, Mark Collins, Catherine Creegan, Rita Danis, Crystal Deoraj, Sarah Herman, Junior Linton, Jennifer Long, Charles Lobello, Joe LoVerde, Richard Mantell, Ebony Martin, Deidre McFadyen, Cara Metz, Michael Murphy, Adriana O’Hagan, Debra Poulos, Jeff Povalitis, Suzanne Popadin, Ellen Procida, Tina Puccio, Hector Ruiz, Michael Sill, Anne Silverstein, Geofrey Sorkin and Liz Truly. |
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A Union of Professionals
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(212) 777-7500 • UFT.orgmrportelos is currently subscribed to the UFT email list. If you would like to stop receiving emails from the UFT, you can unsubscribe at any time. |
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PS 18 UFT 